Denver and the West

Denver police, RTD bring fare enforcement into digital age

Denver police Officer Stephanie Lozoya uses a new electronic handheld device to scan an RTD passenger's ID and write a citation. The device streamlines the process of nabbing violators on buses and trains and linking the information to a database.
(Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

Officer Stephanie Lozoya, standing right, and Sgt. Brian Conover, issue a warning to a passenger after checking her ID with a new electronic device, which is being used on trains and buses to issue fare-evasion citations and record the information.
(Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

Three plainclothes officers hopped on RTD's H train at 16th and Stout streets Monday morning and, as soon as it left the station, pulled police badges on lanyards from their shirts and announced: "Denver police, we're checking fares."

All 15 or so passengers on the car had valid tickets, so the officers jumped to another car at the next station and repeated the drill.

When they found a rider without a valid ticket, officer Stephanie Lozoya took an electronic device from a bag and scanned the passenger's driver's license to check his fare-compliance record.

Within a few minutes, police determined it was his third infraction and issued him a ticket, and Sgt. Brian Conover informed him that he was suspended from using RTD transit or stepping on its property for 30 days.

The Regional Transportation District started using electronic ID-inspection devices and wireless printers for fare enforcement about three weeks ago. The devices have added efficiency and speed to the process, said John Tarbert, RTD's transit police chief.

"Until May, all officers had to use the radio to call in a name check," he said.

The devices also have allowed RTD to eliminate much of the time-consuming work of entering fare-violation information into the records system by hand, Tarbert said.

The devices were purchased as part of RTD's multi-million dollar program to introduce transit "smartcards" to riders over the next year or so.

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Each day, RTD deploys two teams of plainclothes, off-duty Denver police officers for fare enforcement. Their efforts complement similar work done by uniformed private security guards under contract with RTD, and bus supervisors and a handful of in-house RTD fare inspectors.

In the first quarter this year, about 5,500 RTD passengers got warnings for being caught without a valid ticket for the first time, according to agency records. In the same period, about 1,600 citations — either $50 fines for a second violation or $100 fines for third and subsequent offenses — were issued.

Last year, fare inspectors issued a total of 26,908 warnings and 7,103 citations, said Bob Mickelson, RTD's fare inspection coordinator.

For the first three months of this year, plainclothes police issued 419 warnings and 128 citations to riders on trains, numbers that amount to a fare-evasion rate of between 5 percent and 6 percent when matched with the total number of boardings, RTD statistics show.

Plainclothes officers typically nab a higher percentage of fare evaders than uniformed inspectors because they bring an element of surprise to the process, Tarbert said.

During their four-hour shift, the officers jumped from car to car, train to train, giving the same fare-inspection announcement to riders.

On a D train heading north from the Broadway/Interstate 25 station, one rider offered as proof of his valid fare a screen on his Blackberry showing his Eco Pass number.

That won't work. He got a warning for a first-time violation.

A couple was caught using expired paper transfers from the bus. The man was warned because it was his first violation. The woman was fined $50 for a second violation.

The plainclothes inspection team gets a lot of offbeat commentary from riders.

One violator told them he was in the witness-protection program.

"A guy told me he was Ziggy Marley," said Detective T.M. Weis, adding, "The main thing is to have people in compliance. That's what we want."

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